Christian Wijnants is now the Maison Ullens’ Artistic Director
PARIS — Belgian luxury fashion house Maison Ullens has named Christian Wijnants It is preparing for a new phase with its artistic director.
The Belgian designer, known for his expertise in knitwear, will make his debut for the label with a fall 2023 collection that will be presented to buyers in Brussels from Feb. 1 to 3 and to press during the Paris women’s shows, the brand said in a statement provided exclusively to WWD.
More information from WWD
The label, founded in 2009, has worked in the past with designers such as Véronique Leroy, Kim Laursen and Haider AckermannBut, he had also produced collections with an internal team the previous two seasons.
Founder Myriam Ullens said she was drawn to Wijnants due to “his generosity in the choice of materials, his softness in his graphisms, his openness to the world, his vision of volumes, his way of working colors, his positive energy which defines so well his general work.”
The house last year named Jérémy Hautin chief operating officer and Jonathan La Morte retail director as it seeks to expand its retail footprintIt hopes to attract attention with its new creative direction.
“I would like to take Maison Ullens even further in terms of image. To be able to offer even more versatile, more accessorized, more colorful silhouettes in order to create a new dynamic, a new energy while respecting our basic DNA,” Ullens explained.
“I also wanted to reinforce our Belgian roots and work with a designer capable of interpreting them through future collections,” she added. “We are constantly evolving in terms of materials and colors, but also in terms of volumes and attitude we wish to offer to the woman of tomorrow. Christian embodies a certain freshness, a new modern and relaxed look, a strong attitude without pretension.”
A graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Art, Wijnants won the Grand Prix at the Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography in 2001, going on to found his eponymous label in 2003. Wijnants was awarded the prestigious “Best of Antwerp” award. ANDAM Prize in 2006 and The Woolmark Prize 2013
Ullens met the designer online and immediately became close friends due to their common design philosophy. Maison Ullens bills its clothing as “wearable luxury” for globe-trotters.
“I love these kinds of brands which are timeless, brands that don’t necessarily follow trends, that make these beautiful pieces that you just want to wear all year long, for many, many years,” Wijnants said.
“What I want to bring to that story is maybe a little bit more depth, to have not only essentials and classics season after season, to have not only a color palette that is very muted and subtle, but to bring each season as well a new story,” he added.
Wijnants is also concerned that the brand does not reflect the personality of the founder.
Ullens was an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and collector. She and Baron Guy Ullens founded the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art Beijing and the Ullens School Nepal. The Mimi Foundation was also established by her to aid cancer patients.
“She has a very strong personality, she has a lot of ideas, she has a sense of humor, she has a lot of different interests, from traveling to art, and I think maybe the brand so far was a little bit too shy about all those ideas,” Wijnants said.
His first collection was inspired in part by Wyoming’s wildlife and open spaces. It featured shearling, leather and cashmere, as well as a palette that included pops of yellow, orange, and green.
“It’s almost a romantic idea because I’m living in a city and I always long for nature, so for me, it was just trying to find a place on earth somewhere where the nature would be still at a quite raw stage,” the designer said.
He said that knitwear accounts for around 75 percent. In addition to the brand’s signature double-faced knits, some of the leather and shearling outerwear is reversible. Wijnants indicated that he was open to working with rougher and more crinkly textures such as the silk and polyamide blend used for his tops.
His passion for knits goes all the way back to his teens, when he discovered an old knitting machine in the basement of his parents’ house.
“Even after 20 years, I’m still not bored of it and you can always discover new techniques, new ideas and develop a lot of stuff. I really have this passion for that technique, and that’s why it was quite unique to find a brand that also shares the same passion. That’s why I think it’s a very good click between our two houses,” he said.
Maison Ullens has two collections from Wijnants per year. The brand, which has locations in Paris and New York City, as well as one in Aspen, Colorado, will be producing two collections per annum. According to reports, the brand is expanding its presence in the U.S., Middle East and Belgium.